CT Blue

I am not a prolific Twitter user. Most of the tweets I read are second hand, reproduced in blog posts or mainstream media. Still, I understand that it can be a useful tool if used judiciously and well. But here’s what I can’t understand. The following is not an unusual series of events when a prominent person finds him or herself in hot water.

Alex Acosta, the Secretary of Labor, who, as a US Attorney, gave Jeffrey Epstein a highly suspect deal that essentially let him off the hook for abusing scores of young girls, took to Twitter today. It’s too much work for me to embed tweets, so I’ll just quote them.

The crimes committed by Epstein are horrific, and I am pleased that NY prosecutors are moving forward with a case on new evidence.

Now that new evidence and additional testimony is available, the NY prosecution offers an important opportunity to more full bring him to justice.

Let’s review the facts, shall we. These are ably set outby Michelle Goldberg in this morning’s Times:

Among the mysteries of the Epstein case are why powerful prosecutors of both parties treated him with such leniency. Alexander Acosta, now Trump’s labor secretary, was the federal attorney who oversaw the deal Epstein received in 2008. Though facing potential federal charges that could have put him away for life, Epstein was allowed to plead to minor state charges instead, an arrangement that was kept secret from his victims. He served 13 months in a county jail, where he got to spend six days a week in his office on work-release. In February, a judge ruled that Acosta’s team’s handling of the case violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. (Naturally, Acosta still has his job.)

After Epstein served his time, he had to register as a sex offender. Inexplicably, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, under Democrat Cyrus Vance Jr., asked a judge to downgrade Epstein’s sex offender status from Level 3, the most serious, to Level 1, the least. The judge, stunned, refused. “I am a little overwhelmed because I have never seen a prosecutor’s office do anything like this,” she said.

Read the rest of the column. It wasn’t just the genius; everyone who knew him was aware of Epstein’s hobby. As the recent search (pursuant to a warrant) also reveals, the evidence was hiding in plain sight. So, Acosta’s tweets are a pile of BS from start to finish.

Now, in the olden days, which some of us graying heads can still remember, a crook like Acosta (and it’s a shame he shares a name with a very good reporter) could have released those tweets as a statement to the press, which would have dutifully repeated them. The only blowback might have been in some opinion pieces, which, depending on timing, may not have come for a few days after the original bullshit was spewed.

Nowadays it’s different. Not only is the blowback immediate, it takes no prisoners, as the linked article demonstrates. Moreover, except maybe on Fox, it’s the blowback that gets most of the attention. Which brings me to my basic question: Why do it? My own lawyerly advice to Acosta would have been that he keep his mouth shut and his head down. Also, of course, he should resign, don sackcloth, and sit in a pile of ashes on the front steps of the Capitol, although, strictly speaking that’s not legal advice, but it might serve to keep his immortal soul from spending eternity in the fires of hell. In any event, he should stay away from Twitter, where the blowback might just make his time here on Earth seem like hell.